Johan Willem "Wim" Beyen (2 May 1897 – 29 April 1976) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of Liberal signature and businessman. Beyen played an important role in the creation of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

and is regarded as one of the Founding fathers of the European Union.

Personalia

The official surname of Johan Willem (''Wim'') Beyen was ''Beijen'', but he preferred to write his name as Beyen because he thought that this name was more appropriate for his international connections (the "ij" digraph only occurs in Dutch). His father, Karel Hendrik Beijen, was a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. He was the company secretary of the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen, one of the Dutch railroad companies. His mother, Louisa Maria Coenen, stemmed from a family of

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

s. He had two brothers. One of them was the archeologist Hendrik Gerard Beyen. In 1922, Wim Beyen married Petronella J.G. (''Nelly'') Hijmans van Anrooij. They had two sons and a daughter. At the end of the 1930s Beyen had a

relationship Relationship most often refers to: * Family relations and relatives: consanguinity * Interpersonal relationship, a strong, deep, or close association or acquaintance between two or more people * Correlation and dependence, relationships in mathem ...

with the Austrian Margaretha Antonia (''Gretel'') Lubinka. After World War II his first marriage was dissolved and he married Gretel. This marriage was a very happy one. Wim Beyen died in 1976.

Education

Wim Beyen grew up in Utrecht and the neighbouring town of Bilthoven. He studied law at Utrecht University. In 1918, he was awarded a doctorate in law.

Successful careers in the public and the private sector

After his study Beyen was engaged as a temporary assistant clerk at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. At that time, he was only 21 years old. Within a few years he rose to the rank of Deputy Treasurer-General. After 1924, Beyen had several positions in the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

sector: secretary of the board of Philips, head of the Dutch branch of the central bank of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

, director of one of the predecessors of the AMRO Bank, vice president and from 1937 president of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, and director of Unilever. During World War II, he was, in addition to his position at Unilever, financial advisor to the Dutch government in exile in London. In 1944, he played an important role during the Bretton Woods conference where the foundations were laid for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. From 1946, he was the Dutch representative in the board of the World Bank and from 1948 also in that of the IMF.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

In 1952 Wim Beyen, who did not belong to a political party, was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the

Second Drees cabinet The Second Drees cabinet, also called the Third Drees cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 2 September 1952 until 13 October 1956. The cabinet was formed by the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) and the christian- ...

. He was asked in order to ensure a better balance of powers within the cabinet. It was an odd situation that

Joseph Luns Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns (28 August 1911 – 17 July 2002) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. He served as Secretary ...

, who was a member of the Catholic People's Party, was

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in the same

Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

. One of the jokes about this construction was "The Netherlands is so small, and therefore their foreign countries altogether are so large, that one Minister of Foreign Affairs is not enough." The relationship between both ministers was not too good, because they had a completely different style of operating and disagreed about several issues. Beyen, for instance, had serious objections to Luns's attitude in the disputes with Indonesia about Netherlands New Guinea. After the 1956 elections Beyen's political career came to an end. There was no longer a need for a

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

minister in the cabinet.

Founder of European integration

Wim Beyen played a very important role in the creation of the

. In August 1954 the plans had collapsed to create a

European Political Community European Political Community may refer to: * European Political Community (1952), a failed proposal with a draft treaty to establish an entity in the 1950s * European Political Community (2022), a forum of European heads of state and government est ...

and a common defence force, the

European Defence Community The Treaty establishing the European Defence Community, also known as the Treaty of Paris, is an unratified treaty signed on 27 May 1952 by the Inner Six, six 'inner' countries of European integration: the Benelux countries, France, Italy, and We ...

, as a substitute for the national armies of France, Germany, Italy and the three Benelux countries, when France refused to ratify the Treaty. Beyen realized that

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic integration, economic, political, legal, social integration, social, and cultural Regional integration, integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integrat ...

in the political field would be impossible in the near future. He was convinced that had to be begun with economic cooperation, and developed a plan that called for a European common market, combined with the idea of a political community. He was in favour of horizontal integration instead of continuing with a sector by sector integration along the lines of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

(ECSC). On 4 April 1955 he sent a memorandum to his Benelux colleagues Paul-Henri Spaak ( Belgium) and Joseph Bech ( Luxembourg) in which he proposed his idea of a customs union. In a meeting of the three Foreign Ministers of the Benelux in The Hague on 23 April 1955 they drafted a joint memorandum to present to their colleagues of the ECSC. They finalized the memorandum (the Benelux memorandum) on 18 May 1955 and presented it to the governments of France, Germany and Italy on 20 May 1955. They proposed to discuss in a conference of the six participating countries of the ECSC the way towards a general integration of the

European economy The economy of Europe comprises about 748 million people in 50 countries. The formation of the European Union (EU) and in 1999 the introduction of a unified currency, the Euro, brought participating European countries closer through the ...

. This conference, the Messina Conference, was held from 1 to 3 June 1955. Beyen headed the Dutch delegation. The final resolution of the conference largely reflected Beyen's point of view. It formed the basis for further work to relaunch European integration and would lead to the Treaties of Rome in 1957 and the formation of the European Economic Community and

Euratom The European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, by developing nucl ...

in 1958.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. J.W. (Johan) Beyen
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Beyen, Johan 1897 births 1976 deaths Ambassadors of the Netherlands to France Ambassadors of the Netherlands to Germany Directors of Philips Dutch bankers Dutch corporate directors Dutch expatriates in England Dutch expatriates in Indonesia Dutch expatriates in Switzerland Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch financial advisors Dutch financial analysts Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch officials of the European Union Dutch lobbyists Dutch people of World War II European civil servants European Union diplomats European Union lobbyists European integration pioneers Financial economists Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Independent politicians in the Netherlands International economists International Monetary Fund people Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Monetarists Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands People from De Bilt Politicians from Utrecht (city) Unilever people Utrecht University alumni World Bank people 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch politicians Member of the Mont Pelerin Society